Third of private rental sector 'failing decency standards'

A third of private rented homes in England are failing decency standards according to a new report from the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Thirty three per cent of the PRS stock would have failed the government’s Decent Homes Standard - the test for social housing - according to analysis in the CIH Housing Review 2014.

CIH chief executive Grainia Long says the government should look at new ways of improving standards in the private rented sector by targeting tax allowances.

Private landlords currently benefit from around £7 billion of tax allowances per year for deductible expenses such as repairs and maintenance, insurance and professional fees. But Long says these neither target nor incentivise the achievement of higher standards.

The CIH claims that if landlords who committed to improving their homes benefited from a more targeted allowance - while those who did not saw their allowances stay the same or reduce - the quality of the PRS stock could rise without additional government spending.

“This government has focused on measures to boost home ownership but with more and more people living in the private rented sector – including more older people, more families with children and more vulnerable people from the housing waiting list – it’s vital that we look carefully at new ways to raise standards” she says.

She says growth of the PRS has been financed through the buy to let market mortgage market, which the UK Housing Review shows has recovered sharply in the past year.

Lending fell from a peak of £46 billion in 2007 to £9 billion in 2010 before moving back up to £21 billion in 2013, with buy to let landlords now being able to access interest-only mortgages more easily than first-time buyers.

Peter Lawrence at Lawrence Rand said: “What the report didn’t highlight was the involvement of a letting agent or otherwise in the process. At Lawrence Rand our professional approach and ongoing management of let properties gives tenants the best reassurance that their interests, as well as those of the landlord, will be met.”